The bloody war between the Vampire Tribunal and the defiant scathe of Penton, Alabama, rages on, forcing its residents and their bonded humans to retreat into the underground fortress of last resort: Omega. There, Will Ludlam is charged with the care of Penton's humans, though he longs to fight alongside his vampire brethren. He knows the risks: as the renegade son of the Tribunal's vicious leader, Will's capture could doom the resistance.

Yet he is determined to prove his worth to his adopted scathe, to his vengeful father and to former US Army officer Randa Thomas, his beautiful, reluctant partner. Randa has little faith that a former member of the vampire elite has what it takes to fight a war. But as their enemies descend upon Omega, Will's polished charm and Randa's guarded heart finally give way to the warrior within.

Fans of Susannah Sandlin's Penton Legacy are sure to devour this long-awaited third installment of the steamy paranormal series.

Excerpt

Will stopped and scented the air again. There were two vampires nearby; one belonged to the Penton scathe, and one didn’t.

He ignored both vampires and skirted to the back of the street where the burned shell of his house still smelled of smoke and ash after three days. Aligning his position with the oak tree twenty feet behind what was left of his chimney, he paced forty steps into the woods.

A thorny bramble that had been draped over a small, scrubby bush pricked his fingers when he pulled it back. Grasping the trunk of the bush, he eased it from its loose grasp in the soil, exposing the top of a metal box.

The loud click of a cocked pistol preceded the cold press of steel against the back of his head by less than a second.

He inhaled, annoyed. A rookie mistake. He’d gotten so engrossed in his task he’d let someone slip up on him.

Vampire.

Penton scathe.

Female.

Freaking Randa.

* * *

Randa grinned, enjoying the disgusted look on Will’s face. “If I were your father, I’d already have the silver spoon back in your mouth, Willy. He’d have you trussed up like a rodeo calf by now, hauling you back to wherever it is he lives when he’s not terrorizing innocent people.”

Will Ludlam was the kind of guy Randa Thomas had hated as a human, and she didn’t like him a bit more as a vampire. Less, in fact. Not only was he a spoiled rich boy, he was now a virtually immortal spoiled rich boy. He had probably been a blue-chip jock in school with a 4.0 GPA and a string of girls trailing his every step.

Plus, he annoyed the hell out of her. The consummate smartass.

“No, if you were my father, you’d have slit my throat—not enough to kill me, but enough to make sure I couldn’t fight back.” His voice was soft, calm. “Then you’d hand me over to your sadistic, freakshow of a second-in-command Shelton, who would play with me until I couldn’t take it anymore. Only when I was good and broken would you return the silver spoon to my mouth.”

Good God, would any father really do that? Will didn’t sound as if he were joking. Randa relaxed her stance for only a split second before the world tilted and she hit the ground, landing on her back with Will stretched out on top of her in a full body press. And he had her gun.

“Damn it.” She pushed against him but it was like pressing on bedrock.

He propped on his elbows and grinned down at her. His hat had fallen off in the scuffle and the moonlight glinted off his hair, making it look silver instead of a naturally streaked blond. And he had dimples, as if God hadn’t already rewarded him with enough in the looks department.

“And if I were my father, you would be dead. Or worse. Believe me, with Matthias, there’s always much worse. Give up?”

She squirmed again, but froze when she realized he was getting turned on by her movements. There was definitely more of him pressing on her than there had been a few seconds earlier.

He laughed, a white glint of teeth in the moonlight. “Oh, don’t stop moving, sweetheart. This is getting more and more interesting.”

Yeah, she could feel exactly how interested he was getting. She felt a very un-vampirelike flush of heat as he wedged a knee between her legs. Damn it. She clenched her teeth at her body’s betrayal—which he’d be able to sense. She hated being a vampire; there was no sense of privacy. “Get. Off. Me. Now.”

Will lowered his head and, damn him, inhaled deeply, with his face pressed against the side of her neck. Her carotid artery also thumped in a very unvampire-like cadence. She waited for the smartass comments to start.

Instead, he lifted his head and looked her in the eye. She could swear his heartbeat sped up, although it was hard to tell over the pounding of her own. Well, this was awkward.

He blinked and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.

Well, that was one good thing. Will had been stricken dumb, at least for a moment. It wouldn’t last.

My Review

Before I get into this review, I have to say it's been a pleasure following The Penton Legacy and I have thoroughly enjoyed each of Susannah's installment in the series.

In the third and final installment, things are heating up in Penton, or what is left of Penton after Mathias Ludlam tried to take out the Penton Scathe and destroyed the town. The remaining members of Penton are now literally holed up underground in Omega, but Mathias is sniffing close, and they can't last forever underground.

In the last two installments we got up close in personal with Aidan, then Mirren (I still have a soft spot for the big broody bastard), but now we get to know the real Will. For followers of this series, he has always come off as a very computer savvy, but albeit light-hearted and handsome playboy. In Omega, however, when he is tasked with the survival of the people of Penton, we find out there is so much more to Will, as does his partner, Randa.

Randa is a military minded, strong female vamp who doesn't feel quite like she fits in with the boys so she is constantly feeling the need to prove herself. She also thinks Will is a spoiled brat with a bit of a daddy complex. As a result, and much to my amusement, they butted heads often.

But just as things are heating up with the situation in Penton, things heat up between these two as they realize they may have completely misjudge, and underestimated one another.

I know I said in my last review that I LOVED Mirren. And if I didn't say that then I'm saying it now, but I really really enjoyed reading Omega and getting to know Randa and Will. Both are strong characters, and both have constantly felt he need to prove themselves, and now is the time that they have to step up for the sake of their scathe. Susannah once again did a great job with keeping up the action, a great cast of characters , and genuine raw chemistry between her main characters. Not only did she do an awesome job of building up to this awesome final installment, I loved that she wrapped it up without making everything feel too perfect. I felt like things came to a natural and good conclusion in the end.

If you haven't checked out this series and like paranormal romance, you should!

Giveaway

About the Author

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night. A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?) The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.

J.A Howell is an office drone by day, and a writer by night. Her love of writing took off when she was eleven years old and decided to fill a composition notebook with stories to read to her friends. Many years (and notebooks) later, not much has changed. She still loves writing and sharing her works with others. When she isn’t writing, she can often be found trying her hand at whatever artistic pursuit strikes her fancy. J.A. Howell resides in Apopka, FL with her husband and their menagerie of animal children.
She currently writes Dark Paranormal/Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, and BDSM Erotic Romance.

There will be a serial novel, Storm Force, a spin-off from Omega, set in that world with different characters. And then a novella or book from the Penton series to close up some loose ends. Think Cage.

Thank you a lot for this review^^… yes at first it was suposed to be a trilogy but we will get a little more with cage’s story.
Storm force is is teh same universe but you won’t read anything in it about our Penton friend^^

a gread series to recommend and Susannah will need support for the serials, as a new experiance it’s stressful^^ the more we woll be to follow her the better

Thanks to Jennifer for featuring OMEGA today! (Waves and Miki and Roger.) Yes, the Omega Force novel, Storm Force, is scheduled to begin as a serial on March 19…which means I better get back to writing!